The Pact
by bakagami
Summary: When Hilde moves in with Relena, she falls for 2 out of a certain 5 guys who live in the neighboring mansion...


  
  
Disclaimer: Me? Own Gundam Wing? HA! Preposterous!   
  
**The Pact**   
  
By Bakagami   
  
"Hilde! Hilde honey, wake up!"   
  
Hilde groggily lifted herself up from her bed. Somehow, while stumbling over miscellaneous articles of clothing, books, etc., she managed to get dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans, a white ribbed tank top, and a black hooded, zip-up sweatshirt. Shaking herself awake, Hilde grabbed a heavy duffel bag and a bulky messenger bag before rushing off into the kitchen to grab a bite of breakfast.   
  
"Bye Mom!" she yelled, in between munches of toast, then raced out the door.   
  
Outside, a taxi waited to take Hilde to the local train station. She was headed for her cousin's house in a small suburban Pennsylvanian town; her mother being the reason for her departure. Since the previous couple of years, Hilde's mother had been working on an art career. Success had called attention to her from a college in Canada that wanted her to teach there. Mrs. Scheibeker accepted but since it was in Montreal, Hilde decided that she wouldn't be able to perform well in school under the bilingual culture. Besides, she only had two more years of high school left before college and she couldn't afford to screw up before then. Therefore, an invitation from her cousin, Lucrezia Noin, to stay with her for the next two years in Pennsylvania had been welcome.   
  
After a couple of hours on the train, Hilde arrived, and spotted Noin. Even though it had been a while since they had last seen each other, Noin looked as awesome as ever. Dressed in black dress pants, a red sleeveless turtleneck, and boots, she made Hilde feel a bit sloppy in her jeans and sneakers. As if sensing her unease, Noin laughed before explaining that she had just come from work-overseeing her jointly owned restaurant-and usually wore much more casual outfits outside of the job.   
  
They chatted amiably on the car ride to Noin's house that ended in front of a strange stucco mansion. It was cream-colored, spacious looking, and quite different from the small apartment above the restaurant that Hilde remembered from her previous visit. She voiced her curiosity as they walked up the brick walkway that led to it.   
  
"Noin, where are we?"   
  
"Oh! That's right; you don't know yet. Um...well...you see..."   
  
"Uh-huh..." Hilde added encouragingly.   
  
"I'm engaged."   
  
"What? To who? And what does that have to do with the house?"   
  
"Uh...to a very...nice man named Milliardo Peacecraft who owns this house. I'm currently living with him." She explained, waiting for Hilde's reaction.   
  
However, whatever reaction Noin was looking for, it wasn't the one that she got. As she peered over at Hilde, she realized that she was...laughing?   
  
"Hahahaha! MILLIARDO? You're engaged to marry a...haha... Milliardo? What kind of name is...hahahaha...MILLIARDO?" Hilde managed to spit out between laughter.   
  
She quickly sobered however, as she saw the horrified expression on Noin's face. Hilde realized the reason why as someone tapped her on the shoulder. Make that a someone with the name Milliardo who tapped her on the shoulder. He was quite different from what she expected with blonde hair so light that it was almost white (hey that rhymes!) and piercing, ice-blue eyes that seemed to burn right through her. Unfortunately for Hilde, and even more so for Milliardo, when he opened his mouth to make a sharp comment, he didn't realize that there was a piece of dark colored food stuck to his teeth. Although she made a valiant effort, Hilde just could not keep a straight face at that. Even Noin succumbed to a chuckle as a clueless Milliardo wondered what the heck was the matter.   
  
"I'm sorry," Hilde finally said after her laughter died down. "I didn't mean to make fun of you the first time we met. You might want to check your teeth though."   
  
Milliardo seemed to want to say something but realized that he couldn't without exposing the offensive piece of food once more so he stalked off silently. Nevertheless, Noin assured Hilde that he would get over it soon and that she hadn't done anything that would prompt him to dislike her...for long.   
  
With that, they stepped into the house. At first it seemed overwhelming with a marble floor in the foyer and winding staircases on each side of it. Fortunately, to Hilde's delight, the rest of the house was simply decorated but with a feeling of elegant coziness-there was a overstuffed sage-colored couch in the living room that she just wanted to sink into but couldn't for fear of making yet another bad impression on Milliardo. As they walked up the staircase and into the room that Hilde would occupy, she couldn't help but revel in the luxurious thickness of the carpet. But better yet, her room was superior to the one she had at home. It was a bit on the pastel side, with almost everything lavender and bleached wood. However, it seemed very comfortable and even had its own computer and television set.   
  
"This is your guest room?" Hilde asked incredulously.   
  
"Yep," Noin replied nonchalantly.   
  
"Whoa...how rich is this Milliardo guy?"   
  
"Well, he's co-owner of my restaurant, which is how we met, and he also owns a couple other businesses."   
  
"How big is this house?"   
  
"Um...it has around...eight bedrooms, two studies, an office, a finished basement, and all your regular stuff. You know: kitchen, living room, etc. Oh, and there's like an indoor swimming pool and outside there's a tennis court and garden."   
  
Hilde absorbed that information for a second before closing her gaping mouth. Noin left her to settle in and organize her stuff. As Hilde finally stuffed her last piece of clothing in an oversized wardrobe, there was a knock on the door...the bathroom door! Who the heck was in her bathroom? Milliardo's sister-Relena, it turned out was the culprit, since it was a bathroom that was shared between two rooms with two entrances. One door led to Relena's room and obviously the other led to Hilde's.   
  
Relena also had long blonde hair but in a corn color, not the striking whitish blond that her brother possessed. Also, she had wide-set blue eyes and an air of friendliness; again, another point unlike her brother. Yet, Hilde could see the similarity between the two in the regal way that they carried themselves and the almost formal manner in which they always spoke. Fortunately, Relena seemed to have developed a more positive opinion of Hilde.   
  
"What? Are you serious?" Relena said between giggles.   
  
"No, really!" Hilde declared adamantly while recounting the incident with Milliardo.   
  
"I can just imagine the look on his face!"   
  
"Dinnertime!" yelled Noin from downstairs.   
  
"COMING!" Relena yelled back with surprising volume. "You have to learn to be loud in this house," she said with a shrug when she noticed Hilde's expression.   
  
Dinner was awkward. Although Noin, Hilde, and Relena tried to keep a conversation afloat, Milliardo's icy stare and frequent "harrumphs" thwarted all attempts. Soon, the three gave up and resigned themselves to eating dinner in silence.   
  
"I'll talk to him," Noin reassured Hilde in private, after dinner. "Don't worry, he won't be this way tomorrow."   
  
Hilde was heading for the front staircase when Relena stopped her.   
  
"Where are you going?" she asked.   
  
"Um...upstairs?"   
  
"Don't be silly. There's a back staircase over here."   
  
"Oh.."Hilde trailed off as she followed Relena.   
  
It turned out that the back staircase was right by the family room, hidden in a corner for it was a spiraling wooden staircase. Hilde stared at it in awe; she'd always loved spiral staircases! What made it even better was the fact that there was a window right by the staircase-a window with a view of the indoor swimming pool.   
  
"Whoa..."she breathed.   
  
"Wanna go swimming?" inquired Relena. "It'll be cool, I haven't swum in sooo long."   
  
"How can you resist not swimming everyday with this awesome pool?"   
  
Relena sighed. "Well, it gets boring when nobody else's here to swim with you."   
  
Hilde thought that Relena had a point there. Nobody in the house seemed to have too much spare time. Noin was busy with the restaurant and Milliardo was probably busy too. Even if he weren't, who'd want to swim with that grumpy lunatic? Realizing that Relena was waiting for an answer, Hilde readily agreed and they both went back upstairs to change. ~ * ~ * ~ * ~   
  
Hilde had changed into a navy colored tankini with boy shorts while Relena chose a baby blue one piece. The water was pleasantly warm and Hilde and Relena raced for a few laps before they noticed that someone was tapping on the door. Relena recognized the guy as Quatre, her neighbor, and she let him in while Hilde remained in the pool. Relena introduced the two.   
  
"Pleasure to meet you," Quatre had said with a little wave. He had blond hair with aquamarine eyes and was dressed in khaki shorts with a polo shirt. His personality seemed quite preppy but nice though. Hilde wasn't quite sure what sort of impression she was making but seemed sure that it wasn't too great. She thought that she probably looked something akin to a drowned rat with goggle marks around her eyes.   
  
Quatre actually thought otherwise. Although there were faint red circles around her gray eyes, he thought that added to her charm. Unlike many girls he met, she didn't just dilly- dally around the pool, doing nothing but showing off her figure. Instead, she had been swimming, and judging from the few glimpses he had caught when she was in action, Hilde had a decent freestyle stroke. The brief talk that they had showed that Hilde was also outgoing, if a bit shy in the beginning. He discovered that she also had a love for music and was learning piano.   
  
"Quatre here's a great musician," Relena said.   
  
"Really?" asked Hilde.   
  
"Well, I'm decent but nothing extraordinary," he said, blushing.   
  
"Uh-huh." Relena teased.   
  
"My mom wanted me to continue with piano while I'm here, do you know anyone who's a good teacher?" Hilde inquired.   
  
"Quatre could probably teach you," suggested Relena.   
  
"I could...if you're not more advanced than I am..."   
  
"I doubt it," said Hilde.   
  
"Well then, let's arrange a time. How about tomorrow? My house is right next door and you can come...around ten?"   
  
"Sure," Hilde said. ~ * ~ * ~ * ~   
  
The next morning Hilde was heading downstairs for breakfast when she was stopped by Relena. Shaking her head at Hilde's floppy t-shirt and wrinkled cotton shorts, Relena dragged her into her room.   
  
"You're not wearing that over there," Relena admonished.   
  
"Why not? It's just a piano lesson."   
  
"Trust me. Think of this as a favor to me."   
  
"Huh?" Hilde was still confused. However, she didn't argue when Relena told her to dress in a dark denim spaghetti strap dress. She also tried to tame Hilde's short, wayward hair but just couldn't overwhelm its unruliness.   
  
"Oh well, it looks cute that way anyhow," Relena said.   
  
"Can I ask what this is for?"   
  
"Um..."Relena hesitated.   
  
"Please?" pleaded Hilde, bursting with curiousity.   
  
"Oh fine! Okay, you see, Quatre isn't the only one who lives in that house."   
  
"He isn't?"   
  
"No. He also has like a dozen or something sisters and four other guys."   
  
"His brothers?"   
  
"No, they're all orphans. Rumour has it that his parents are so rich that they adopted all four of them as playmates for Quatre when he was little but they've been here for so long now that everyone has stopped asking."   
  
"Um...okay...interesting...but what does that have to do with anything?"   
  
"Well, you see, those four are named Heero, Duo, Trowa, and Wufei. This particular matter concerns Duo. You see, he's great as a friend but when it comes to women, Duo's somewhat of a...'playa' and not one of his ex-girlfriends-and there are plenty of them-are still 'tight' with him.   
  
Hilde was barely able to contain her laughter at Relena's choice of words. It was a good thing that she did manage to remain perfectly serious on the outside, however, for what Relena said next would have a direct effect on the rest of her stay.   
  
"...I don't blame them because he has been a real jerk to a lot of girls. Duo's never going to be successful in any way if he keeps on burning bridges like this. So, I've decided that a taste of his own medicine will be just what he needs, and you'll be the one to administer the dose."   
  
"Wh...what?"   
  
"Yep, you'll have to make him fall in love with you and if everything works out, great! If not, you can treat him the way that he's treated all of those girls and see how he feels after that. Either way, he'll stop torturing other females."   
  
"Wait, why didn't you do this earlier?"   
  
"Well, nobody else seemed as perfect a candidate as you."   
  
"What? Why?"   
  
"First of all, you're someone he's never seen before so he won't be as prepared to deal with you as he would be to someone who he knows. Secondly, since you'll be taking piano lessons from Quatre, that'll give you two adequate opportunities to get to know each other since he also lives there. And finally, I get the feeling that Duo would really like you."   
  
"Okay...but why couldn't you have done this yourself? I mean obviously he likes you too or else you wouldn't be friends and besides, you're next door neighbors."   
  
"Duo and I aren't like that."   
  
"Uh-huh. Or is there someone else?" Hilde asked with a gleeful nudge.   
  
"No! Of course not!"   
  
"Why so defensive, eh Relena?" She inquired with an air of fake innocence.   
  
"Oh, you're so frustrating! Fine, you'll hear about it from someone anyhow, and I prefer that you hear it first from me. You see...I...have...a slight crush on someone else."   
  
"Go on..."   
  
"...And that someone else's name is...Heero."   
  
Hilde clapped her hands while bouncing up and down on the bed in anticipation of good gossip. Too bad it was nearing nine forty-five and Relena gladly pointed out that Hilde still needed breakfast before heading over to Quatre's. Sulkily, Hilde grabbed her piano books and headed for the kitchen. Nevertheless, she reminded Relena that in return for her assistance with Duo, she required some juicy details about Relena's crush.   
  
"Sure..." Relena answered evasively.   
  
"You'd better!" Hilde threatened mockingly before closing the door.   
  
Relena hadn't really been serious had she? Besides, Hilde hadn't really agreed; she just hadn't disagreed either. Oh well, she thought. What were the chances that she'd run into him? After all, from what Relena had said, there was quite a large number of people who lived in that house.   
  
With that comforting thought in mind, she confidently rang the doorbell. Nobody answered. So she rang it again. She was about to ring it a third time when she heard someone running towards the door. It swung open to reveal a guy...and it wasn't Quatre. This guy was about five inches taller than Hilde with a long, chesnut brown braid. However, his most startling yet intriguing physical aspect were his large violet eyes.   
  
"Hi," he said. "You must be Hilde. I'm Duo."   
  
~*~*~*~   
  
Cliffhanger! Okay, so nobody really cares except for me. Anyhoo, please REVIEW!!! Good or bad, just say something.   
  
^_^ Bakagami 


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